You… Are… So… Beeyoooteefull…

I’m guessing that there’s probably about three boatloads of folks who’ve sent this in to the regular CO submissions mailbox, but since I don’t ever see that, I’ll just say that RedZilla (and me Schmoop) pointed me in this direction. [grateful thanks]

Yes, I’m one of the boatloads of folks who sent it in, too. This is the cutest friggin’ thing I have ever seen!!!!! I have had the pleasure of playing with tiger cubs and orangutan babies and they are both forces to be reckoned with!

I can’t believe those nutjobs nutjobs trying to “show nature’s harmony.” Nature ain’t sentimental, people! Remember that nutjob guy who died in that bear documentary, after he had “befriended” the bears?

I can’t figure out how to do the link but there’s a GORGEOUS photo in this same series of a baby piglet with its adoptive Mom …

A two-year-old piglet approaches its adoptive mother Sai Mai, a six-year-old tiger, at the Sriracha Tiger Zoo in Thailand’s Chonburi Province, nearly 100 km (62 miles) east of Bangkok, February 16, 2007. Zoo staff outfitted the piglet in traditional Chinese wear, ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year of the ‘Year of the Pig’, which starts on February 18 REUTERS/Adrees Latif (THAILAND)…

A friend sent me the link, and I dropped EVERYTHING to come over to CO to get the send-in email address. And here it already was.

My goodness people, if tigers and monkeys can find friendship, and us humans continue to kill each other and inflict the most unimaginable sickness on non-human creatures, what does that say about our kind? Why can’t we all just respect each other and get along? Most of us humans love life, so WHY WHY WHY are our “leaders” so disgustingly cruel??? WHY WHY WHY do we continue to swallow the evil lies and pay taxes we KNOW will fund torture? WHY WHY WHY???

Ah…doomed love affairs…I am an addict of the melodrama. Must mark my calendar. When the zoo separates the quad in three months(?), I’ll be sniffling into my kleenex at the tragedy of it all. Mother Nature, why must you be so cruel? *shakes fist*

In the mean time, man! they’re cute. Has affection ever been so adorable? Just cannot help basking in their glow.

Well, I happen to agree with Arvay. It’s foolish to look at a couple of baby animals, doing what baby animals do, and try to extrapolate that into some kind of social commentary on the ills of the human race. They are orangutans and tigers, and when the time comes, they will behave like orangutans and tigers, and all “friendship” will be forgotten.

Regarding we warmonger humans taking a lesson of virtue from the tiggies & the baby orangs — I don’t know. Most human infants seem pretty peaceable to me. I’ve yet to see a human baby try to annihilate another being, even when they’re teething.

If the tigers and orangs are still cuddling at age four, that’s when I’ll know I’ve been schooled.

gena, it has been well established that Theo posted this(and, notice, the post is also signed by Theo.) Meg has a very busy “real life” (as does Teho, no doubt) and sometimes Theo helps out by posting something. I think both of them have great taste in Qte ™ — me loves these babies, and I’m sad they’ll have to be parted.

Arvay, you make sense in a logical sort of a way, but, well, when I look at the baby orang gazing soulfully into the tie-tie-tiger’s eyes, logic isn’t foremost in my mind.

Oh they’ll separate them before anything gets rough. From the CNN article:
“When the time comes, they will have to be separated. It’s sad, but we can’t change their natural behavior,” [veterinarian Retno Sudarwati] said. “Tigers start eating meat when they are three months old.”

BTW, people, please stop with the comments on the orang-tiger friendship and the controversy therein. I think the scientists handling them know what they’re doing. Babies need *company*, you know?

Just sit back and appreciate that you’ve got TWO species of cute baby animals in ONE picture, and that they’re together because people cared enough to do something for them. Geeesh.

Also, I think Theo’s doing a great job of filling in for Meg. Those whining about it, get it into your heads that they’re both taking time out from their *PAYING* jobs to cater to your childish tantrums. If you think you’re not getting what you want from this site, feel free to leave instead of being rude about it. Learn to appreciate the small things people do.

DarkShines – Of course I’ll be your bride, so long as the band plays the Hedgehog Song at the reception and the caterers use Nanny’s recipe book… 😀
What’s the tattoo of? Tell me it’s Greebo and I’ll love you forever!

I have to admit that for the most part it’s a little silly for those people saying “oh look, animals can be friends, what’s wrong with humans! wah wah wah!”

I’m sorry, but this has nothing to do with animals. This has to do with children, and human children are the same. When I say children, I mean *young* children. Before the age when they enjoy making other children miserable. What drives me even more crazy is the sheer statistics. Oh look, what monkey and one tiger were friends *EVER*, in a CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT. Just by the numbers that’s a lot less frequent than humans from what are considered ‘rival’ factions in life manage to do so.

Besides, the zoo keepers are right, it’s far too dangerous to keep them together into adulthood. More likely than not , even if it’s due to an accident during rough play, that the monkey would end up injured, or possibly eaten.

I understand instinct and all, but if kitty-cats raised around micies and hamsters and birdies can learn not to hunt them (or at least not to EAT them), it seems a little hasty to say that tigers could never play safe with orangs.

There was that lioness and the antelope species she loved, after all. She never ate that kind of antelope.

Oh Arvay, that picture you posted… the tiger on the right has the most hilarious facial expression, like he’s just realized his friends are delicious! and the one on the left is definitely sampling the bunny.
I hope they get those bunbuns out of there SOON!

So precious and innocent. But time will have to separate them. Still, the human animal, which adulterates the atmosphere, and destroys fellow human beings and animal life through war and atrition CAN learn a great deal from these beautiful little creatures.
Let’s appreciate the sweetness of those two.

I’m curious: how does the tiger know, after three months, that an orangutan is something it should eat, but that the other tiger is not? They’ve spent months together, and are all familiar. I assume tigers don’t eat each other, so what happens at three months that would make the tiger suddenly mark an orangutan as food while recognizing that her sister is still not food?

Jules, it’s the way things move that triggers instinct. For example, my wabbits freak out when I first turn on the ceiling fan… when it’s still moving slowly, the sweeping blades and the shadows they make are just like predatory birds.

For another example, think about how you can entice a cat to chase a toy by dragging it jumpily along the ground–it’s just like a rodent.

All these interspecies photos are cute, but they still freak me out. The only animals I’d trust completely are those that have been domesticated and living with us humans for tens of thousands of years. We’ve co-evolved, so our brains are wired to be pals. 🙂

I found a Beanie Baby orangutan at a thrift store. It now lives on my bookshelf, atop my Terry Pratchett books, which include the Johnny and Bromeliad series, the Carpet People and Strata. Not that I’m obsessed. I’m currently re-reading “The Last Continent.” No worries, eh?

Terry Pratchett is one of the very few authors whose books I’ll buy fresh off the press, hardback, without even reading the blurbs. The others are Neil Gaiman and Jennifer Crusie. Oh, and J.K. Rowling.

I’ve read “Good Omens” so many times that I just about need to buy a fresh, intact copy.

That’s how I got introduced to both authors. It was the only non-trashy-romance, non-spy-novel book in the sales rack, and the rest is history.

Jennifer Crusie does *not* count as trashy romance. Hers are hilarious. Start with “Bet Me” or “Anyone But You,” aka “Fred’s Book.” (As her site puts it, The story of two people who are all wrong for each other and the dog that won’t let them part.)